The burned out frames of vintage cars and trucks are all that remain at a lot on the 800 block of Bear Creek Canyon Road where authorities believe the Bear Fire ignited. (Shmuel Thaler -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

The burned out frames of vintage cars and trucks are all that remain at a lot on the 800 block of Bear Creek Canyon Road where authorities believe the Bear Fire ignited. (Shmuel Thaler -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

A vehicle destroyed by the Bear Fire sits near the origin of the blaze. (Shmuel Thaler -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

A burned car sits along Bear Creek Canyon during the second day of the Bear Fire in Boulder Creek, California, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The wildfire has grown to 271 acres but shows signs of slowing down. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group)

A burned structure along Bear Creek Canyon lays in ruins during the second day of the Bear Fire in Boulder Creek, California, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The wildfire has grown to 271 acres but shows signs of slowing down. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group)

Decorations burn in front of a home that firefighters were able to save on Bear Creek Canyon during the second day of the Bear Fire in Boulder Creek, California, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. The wildfire has grown to 271 acres but shows signs of slowing down. (Gary Reyes/ Bay Area News Group)

Pictured is the initial fire site on Bear Creek Canyon Road east of Boulder Creek where the Bear Fire originated on Oct. 16, 2017. (Emily DeRuy/Bay Area News Group)

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“At this point, our detectives are looking at every conceivable reason why this fire could have been started — arson being one of them,” Sgt. Chris Clark said after a department meeting Wednesday to discuss the fire. “Our investigation is working to determine the whereabouts of various people.”

A flurry of Facebook comments on residents’ pages are fanning theories about the fire’s cause. The sheriff’s office is aware of those comments but is unable to discuss their validity, Clark said.

The fire started about 10:30 p.m. at the junk-strewn hillside property that includes 475 Diane’s Way, a pile of rubble where 33-year-old Julia Cabibi had been living.

Neighbors have said others were squatting on nearby vacant lots close to the 800 block of Bear Creek Canyon Road. It is unclear who was living at the properties, which had a campsite downhill from the house and multiple piles of trash. There are five tracts with two unrelated owners in the immediate area where witnesses and firefighters saw the fire originate.

In the initial Oct. 16 dispatch, a telecommunicator warned firefighters the property is laden with trip wires used to expose trespassers. Clark declined to comment on that concern.

KNOWN TO AUTHORITIES

There have been numerous code-enforcement actions to address excess junk since the 1990s, according to county documents.

Cabibi, the only tenant named in public records, has a criminal history. She was convicted in May for using someone else’s credit card after she was released from jail on meth and weapons charges filed last year, according to court records. In December, Cabibi was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, receiving a stolen motor vehicle and being under the influence of opiates and meth.

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Cabibi missed an appointment with probation officers in July. In a subsequent probation report, she said she was using heroin every day to avoid feeling emotions stirred by the court process and relationship problems.

“It was evident, while speaking to her on the phone, that she is struggling with this addiction,” Deputy Probation Officer Elizabeth Haro wrote in the July 11 report. “Her words were somewhat slurred, she hardly paused between sentences and lost track of the questions I was asking.”

Cabibi pleaded guilty in February to being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a stolen vehicle. The District Attorney’s Office dismissed drug charges, according to court documents.

She was charged last year with having ammunition for .45, .38 and .22-caliber weapons. She also was charged in connection with having ammunition for a 12-gauge shotgun, according to court documents.

Cabibi is on probation until September 2020, according to court documents. It is unclear where she is staying.

REACHING OUT

Cabibi has been active on social media asking for help after losing her family’s home.

In her recent posts, she denies any connection between the Bear Fire and her arrest in a 2015 chop-shop bust at the property.

“My house got burned down because some (expletive) was stealing my uncle’s muscle cars and I found him out,” Cabibi wrote on Facebook on Oct. 21.